With my first novel now out in the world, I’ve finally turned my attention to my next book – Hide and Seek – a historical fantasy set in 1939 pre-war London. I finished the first draft a while back and it’s just been sitting there, waiting – printed and spiral bound.

A few weeks ago, I handed it over to my wife, who always gets first read on any of my work. I asked for a general overview of potential issues with story, plot holes, character arcs, protagonist, antagonist, and subplot.

I was surprised when my wife came back to me a week later and said she thought the book was strong, and she only had a few notes. My writer brain only remembered the first draft as being a huge, steaming pile of poo.

In fact, while she was busy reading, I occupied myself with re-engineering some of the core elements of the book. Namely, the magic system. It was a soft magic system with only a few general rules. But then I read Rachel Gillig’s One Dark Window, and her magic system, while slightly more complex than mine, it proved far more elegant, easy to absorb, and understand. The more I thought about the magic system in Hide and Seek, the more I realized my general rules had led to a host of confusing contradictions.

So, guided by Gillig’s example, I simplified my magic system by laying down more rules. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but it worked. It helped me strengthen what I already had in place, gave added dimension to the characters who used it, and removed all of the contradictions. My new rules also made the system more unique (the original incarnation followed more traditional pagan/wiccan practices for spell work).

With my wife’s notes, and my extensive re-engineering work all written out into concise bullet points, I started the first big edit (and rewrite) of Hide and Seek. I’m hoping to hand my wife a revision in about three months (because of work, I’m only able to write on weekends). Another edit (hopefully smaller), will follow. If I’m happy with the end result, it then goes to my beta readers. I’m hoping to be able to publish by late summer 2024.

Now you know me, I’m a writer. I can’t just leave it at that. One project is never enough. So, I’m also working on the foundations and world-building of my third book, which will be an epic fantasy (working title – Far From Home). It will likely be multiple books, but since I’ve haven’t worked out the complete plot, I don’t know yet whether it will be a duology, or a trilogy. And when I say “world-building”, I mean from the ground up: continent, landscape, kingdoms, cities, villages, economies, politics, religions, history (both recent and ancient), a calendar, and a constructed language. We writers are never kind to ourselves.

And all of this will be relevant because the story weaves through a history of a native people, and colonizers, a war to retake the homeland, a second diaspora, and finally, the emergence of monotheism in a once pagan land.

So, when I’m not editing Hide and Seek, or when I burn out from so many red pen marks on the pages, I’ll hop over to Far From Home and work on my world map (Photoshop), or the city map for Ayr (where the protagonist starts the story), or open Duolingo and learn more Hawaiian – the basis for my constructed language. Plus, I still have to nail down the bones of my plot and the backstories for the four principal characters. From there I can build the want, the lie, and the need for each.

I’ll keep you updated with my progress with each project, thoughts on process, and anything new I learn along the way.

By the way, I finished One Dark Window and genuinely enjoyed it. I’m already looking forward to reading the next in The Shepherd King series – Two Twisted Crowns.

I’m currently reading Holly Black’s first adult fantasy novel – Book of Night.